Mitla — Oaxaca, Mexico

Mitla is a Zapotec ceremonial center known for its geometric fretwork, courtyards, and deep associations with the underworld. Its architecture and patterns reveal a worldview in which death is understood as transition rather than ending. Spending time in Mitla illuminated how spatial organization, ornament, and material expression can convey cosmology, offering important lessons for how place can hold ritual meaning across generations.